Runway approach area holding position sign

What the runway approach area holding position sign is

The runway approach area holding position sign is a mandatory instruction sign — a white inscription on a red background — that marks where an aircraft must hold so it does not penetrate the runway's approach and departure surfaces. These are the obstacle-limitation surfaces that must stay clear for an aircraft arriving on or departing from the runway; a taxiing aircraft that pushes past this point could infringe the approach surface or the obstacle-free zone.

It sits at a holding position that can be some distance from the runway itself, because the surface it protects extends outward from the runway end. Like the related runway-holding position sign, it is one of the airfield's defences against traffic straying into a protected volume of airspace.

ICAO and FAA names

This sign — with its runway-designator + APCH legend — is FAA-specific, named the runway approach area holding position sign in its airport sign guidance and advisory circulars (AC 150/5340-18). ICAO Annex 14 Volume I and, in Europe, EASA CS-ADR-DSN protect the same approach and obstacle-limitation surfaces through their runway-holding-position provisions, but they do not use this named APCH-legend sign. Crews often refer to the FAA sign simply as the "approach hold" for the runway concerned.

Because its job is to keep aircraft out of the approach surface rather than off the runway pavement, it is easy to confuse with a plain runway-holding position sign — but the two protect different things, and the inscription tells them apart.

What it displays

The inscription pairs a runway designation with a dash and the letters APCH — for example 15-APCH — showing which runway's approach area is being protected; the dashes separate the elements, and there is no directional arrow (arrows are for direction signs). The board is red with a white inscription, oriented to the crew approaching the hold.

The FAA advisory circulars govern how the inscription is composed and how the sign is sized and positioned. The elements — a runway designator, a dash and the APCH legend on a red field — are set by that standard, so this page states the rule and leaves the exact figures to the FAA specification you are building to.

Draw it accurately in Wingframe

The runway designation, the APCH legend and the red field of a runway approach area holding position sign are all fixed by the standard you work to. Wingframe draws the sign to FAA geometry for you, so the artwork you hand to the sign manufacturer is right the first time. See what Wingframe can do.